China’s ‘Two Meetings’ Different This Time Around

For years, the annual “Two Meetings” in China—the convocation of the National Peoples’ Congress and the Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference–has been the legislative equivalent of a dead cat bounce.

There’s always been some progress in past sessions, thanks to the heavy-lifting of reformers, some of whom believe that social problems are best met by legal measures, instead of dropping the heavy weight of the state on any attempt to engineer change from below.

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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (Center) shakes hands with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping (Right) as Chinese President Hu Jintao looks on after Wen delivered his work report at the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on March 5, 2013 in Beijing.

Still, for the past 10 years, conservative opposition has shoved large-scale change off a cliff. Small adjustments and alterations rule these gatherings. Reform has been largely left to lie flat.

But not this time around.

For one thing, there’s the changeover in leadership that’s taking place, with both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao stepping down. To some in the Party, that peaceful handover is another hallmark of institutionalization; but there are reformist cadres who welcome the final passing of an era, so that serious transformation can move from the odd, unresolved debate into actual decisions.

There are also ample indications of shifts in the thinking of the Chinese leadership on reform. State media is saying there will be a “reform bonus” resulting from changes adopted at the “Two Meetings” (in Chinese) — a clear broadside by reformers against the customary loot and largesse dispensed to the usual suspects in state industry who have benefited from their stranglehold on the Chinese economy.

Then there’s a new seriousness in some Party circles about the sessions themselves, with some urging them to finally become “an integral part of China’s political life, [with] public and orderly political participation, an important platform to offer advice and suggestions for reform” (in Chinese).

Unlike previous legislative moments in March, there’s a spring in the Party’s step—and momentum behind reformers and the initiatives they carry.

Spurring much of this is Party chief Xi Jinping’s emphasis on changing the work style of cadres by being thriftier with time and public resources. That’s having an impact on the way officials talk and make decisions.

In the weeks since Xi took over the Party leadership, simple is starting to sell as doctrine from the center. Praise for one’s superiors is being downplayed (in Chinese). Officials are being encouraged to reset the social atmosphere by avoiding scandal or acting stupidly (in Chinese). As Xi noted during his recent speech at the Central Party School, cadres, by changing their work style, “can learn a little more, think a little more, do a little less unnecessary socializing, and be less formal” (in Chinese).

Indeed, Xi’s recent reaching out to the military is not only a strategy to curry political support; it’s an attempt by him and his colleagues to use the well-organized and Spartan lifestyle of the armed forces as a template for Party cadres to follow.

What’s also different this time around is that Xi’s emphasis in his speech at the Central Party School on “strengthening the sense of urgency in learning” is aimed far more at the Party than it is society. This is not the usual round of conservative-colored reform, the aim of which has been mostly to placate the public with promised crackdowns on corruption and the usual meanderings about the need to end official malfeasance. Learning to be better this time around, Xi insists, “should be comprehensive, systematic, and full of the spirit of exploration”, drawing on expertise and experience.

Efforts to change the actual functions of government agencies, instead of the usual administrative reordering and shuffling, are parts of this same package (in Chinese).

Previous “two sessions” under Hu put the heavy stamp of hardliners on legislation. Xi and his reformist colleagues are not about holding onto that old line, but stepping over it.

Of course, there are opponents and obstacles ahead. The old guard has to be anxious that new ideas are simply a prelude to striking out at adversaries. Leftists in the Party are trying to use Xi’s call for new thinking about the direction of the Party to bring out the tried and by-now quite tired socialist symbol Lei Feng. And there are those who doubt or dismiss some local efforts to display cadres as working closer with the masses (in Chinese).

But Xi and his supporters seem determined to fly, and not simply let another opportunity for reform flop back to earth. Suddenly, the “Two Meetings” are looking less like another uninteresting soft landing and more like the Party just might get airborne.

Russell Leigh Moses is the Dean of Academics and Faculty at The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies. He is writing a book on the changing role of power in the Chinese political system.

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